The University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team started strong but faded late, falling in four sets to the Camosun Chargers on Friday night at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
In a clash of nationally ranked teams, the CCAA No. 7 Cascades took the first set 25-21 and had their chances in an epic second set, only to watch the No. 4 Chargers claim it 31-29. The visitors from Victoria would ride that momentum, taking the next two 25-20 and 25-17 to close out the match.
The two teams renew hostilities on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m., EFAC) to close out the weekend series.
"I think we had game plan in our mind, but just became a little bit tight," Cascades head coach
Janelle Rozema said, reflecting on how the Chargers were able to pull away and win the third and fourth sets. "We were in the right spots, reading the right things, just not executing the actual skill of digging, the actual skill of passing. Our contacts just have to be better tomorrow."
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The first set began tightly contested, but a four-point serving run from
Sedona Arabsky gave UFV an 18-14 lead. The Chargers would get back to within 22-20, but
Kristen McBride closed out the set for the hosts with consecutive kills.
A wild second saw the teams going point-for-point throughout. With the score even at 22 apiece, the Chargers would surge ahead 24-22 to earn a chance at set point. However, the Cascades battled back to 24-24 with
Lauren Poirier serving. From there, UFV would earn four set points but the Chargers fended each of them off. Camosun would finally earn another set point at 30-29 and would close it out on a Megan Ireland kill.
The third set would continue to be tight, but with the score level at 20, Camosun's Mika Yamada would get a kill follow up with a four-point service run to lift her team to a 25-20 triumph.
The Chargers came out flying for the fourth, grabbing an 11-3 lead with Gracie May notching a pair of aces. The Cascades would fight back to close it to 14-12, but that was as close as they would get. Camosun's Katie Wayling went on a serving run that would include two aces, extending their lead to 20-12, and the visitors cruised from there.
"I think it was something we hadn't experience yet tonight," Rozema said. "Usually when we have those point-for-point battles, because we're in such good shape, we eventually come out on the other side of that as we tire the other team down. Today it seemed like the opposite a little bit. Camosun tired us out, and then it seemed like we were playing a bit tired in the fourth set . . . I think we ran out of steam."
Amanda Matsui posted a team-high 14 kills for the Cascades, and
Chelsea Kidd added seven kills of her own. Matsui (18) and McBride (15) both registered double-digit digs.
Yamada (14 kills) and Hannah May (12 kills) paced the Chargers offensively.
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